Seventeen MPs yet to disclose their educational qualifications RTI

Of the 225 Parliamentarians, 208 have declared their educational and professional qualifications to the Parliament Secretariat following a directive issued by the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) which recognised that the people have the right to know such details of their elected representatives.

In response to an appeal filed by the Sunday Times in July 2021, after parliamentary officials refused to divulge the information initially, the RTIC ruled that the information must be disclosed, but was informed that despite MPs being requested to submit details, none had done so at that time.

The Sunday Times pursued the status of the process through a fresh RTI application, to which the Parliament Secretary General’s office said a form was distributed among MPs to collect those details and 208 of them had declared their qualifications so far.

The details can be accessed by logging onto the Parliament website www.parliament.lk and following this path: Home-Members of Parliament-Directory of Members where they can check the relevant details of the MPs.

Earlier, Parliament had taken the position that in terms of Articles 90 and 91 of the Constitution, MPs’ educational qualifications had not been ‘recognised’ as preconditions for entering Parliament.

But the RTIC ruled that the requested “information does not come within the ambit of the prohibition in section 5(1)(a) of the RTI Act in that firstly, it has a direct relationship to ‘public activity or interest’ within the meaning of that section and secondly, as a consequence thereof that, there is no ‘unwarranted’ invasion of privacy.”

Parliamentarians who failed to submit their educational qualifications to the Parliament Secretariat are: Chamara Sampath Dasanayake, Dhammika Perera, Gevindu Cumaratunga, Jagath Samarawickrama, Johnston Fernando, Kulasingam Dhileeban, Kumara Welgama, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Piyal Nishantha De Silva, Ven Athuraliye Rathana Thero, Rohitha Abeygunawardhana, S. Viyalendran, Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan, Vidura Wickramanayaka, Wimal Weerawansa and Yadamini Gunawardena,

Despite the Commission directing Parliament earlier to collect information related to MPs who have been convicted or facing criminal charges, Parliament is yet to begin the process, according to the RTI response.

“It is our view that it is incumbent on Parliament to take requisite steps to obtain the information related to criminal charges from elected representatives of the Sri Lanka Parliament and to make the same available on public record,” the RTIC ruled in 2021.

When asked whether Parliament has taken any proactive steps to identify MPs who possess dual citizenship status since the 22nd Amendment came into effect, the Secretary General’s office responded: “There is no constitutional or legal provision for Parliament Secretariat to take such action”.

 By S. Rubatheesan